Improvement in apparatus for extinguishing fires



Nrrnn STATES GEORGE CLARK, J R., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 82,471, dated September 22, 1868.

To all whom it may conce-rn:

Be it known that I, GEORGE CLARK, Jr., of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have made an invention of certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Engines or Apparatus for Extinguishing Fires; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specilication, and in which- Figure l is a plan; Fig. 2, a vertical central and longitudinal section 5 and Figs.3 and 4 are vertical and transverse sections through the two pumps of the engine.

This invention relates to an improved class of engines lately introduced, and known as chemical lire-engines, the object of the invention being an improvement in the general construction and efiicient working of such engines,) rather than to any specific local details of invention.

ln the engine already patented there are two or more compartments for holding chemicals in solution, which, when brought together to generate arbonicacid gas by the means of pumps, are thrown together or forced upon a tire to subdue it, the gas being the important and principal extinguishing agent.

In my present invention a double-action force-pump supplies the water from any convenient reservoir, and forces a part of the same into the common air-chamber, and asy much as may be required into the chemical reservoir, in which are placed from time to time such quantities of chemical substances as may be required, forming therein the proper chemical solution, which solutionsl are drawn 'together-by a common force-pump into the chamber and there unite, and then thrown into the main air-chamber and mingled with the water from thev supply-pump and forced upon the hre.

The primary pump is also constructed and combined with the Vsecondary pump and the chambers for holding the chemical solution, as well as with an air-chamber disposed between the different chambers, so as to enable water alone to be forced into such air-chamber, and thence upon the fire, or to cause carbonic-acid gas to be mingled with such water in the air-chamber, the relative amount of water or of gas being alsoV perfectly adjusted or varied as circumstances require.

In the drawings above mentioned as illustrating Vmy invention, A denotes a platform of any suitable construction, properly supported by means of axles B B, upon four or any other suitable number of wheels, C C C C.

Upon one end of the platform A is erected a rectangular tank, C', for holding a proper supply of water when it cannot be obtained by means of the suction-hose from any other convenient receptacle, while at the opposite end of the platform a second tank, D, is erected, a space, E, intervening between the two for reception of an air chamber, F.

The tank D is divided into three compartments, G H I, the two former of which are of equal size andgof considerably greater capacity than the central one I, which contains the pump K for ejecting the gas, there being free communication with the lower portion or chainber of the pumps and the compartments C H by means of lateral pipes a a.

The main water-pump is shown at j as disposed within the tank C, and having a suction-pipe or conduit, a', properly attached to it.

The pump j is a double-acting forcepump, and has in addition two discharge-pipes b b leading directly to the air-chamber 5 two horizontalbranch pipes e d. leading out of its upper part and communicating, respectively, with the chemical-solution chambers G H, the pipes b b and e d each being provided with stopcocks immediately contiguous to the pump.

As the construction of the pump and its suction and discharge pipes is the same as those in common use, a detailed description of them is not considered necessary.

The secondary pump is connected with the air-chamber by a pipe, e, and with two chambers G H, by pipes a a, before mentioned.

In one of the tanks G or H is pnt sulphuric acid, and in the other bicarbonate of soda.

The engine, that is, both the primary' pumps and secondary pumps, being put in motion, water will be discharged by the pump j through the pipe b into the air-chamber7 and through the branch pipes C and D into the tanks G and H, when it forms solutions of acid and soda, which solutions are drawn by pump la into its chamber, and there mingling, are forced into the air-chamber, unite with and charge the Water contained therein with carbonic-acid gas, and from thence are discharged in the usual manner.

The cocks are to enable the suppl;7 of water in Gr and H to be regulated. By shutting these cocks and opening the cock of the pipe b', no. water will pass to the compartments G H, and the engine becomes simply a Water-engine.

Under the above construction the engine becomes a very effective and useful one, and being a self-filling one, economizes much manual labor.

I claim- The combination and arrangement of the Water-tank C, the compartments G and H, and the pumps j and K, the latter being disposed within the intermediate compartment I, and both being connected with the air-chamber, the pipes a a and c d, in addition to the ordinary feed and discharge pipes of the pump.

GEO. CLARK, JR.

Witnesses:

FRED. CUR'r1s,' W. C. DODGE. 

